Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 4, 2022)
GO! EASTERN OREGON MAGAZINE | INSIDE Wednesday, May 4, 2022 154th Year • No. 18 • 16 Pages • $1.50 MyEagleNews.com Smith’s day in court Attorneys for former deputy fi re back at prosecution’s case Bunch Komning Carpenter Palmer Olson By STEVEN MITCHELL Blue Mountain Eagle A Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle Tyler Smith, a former Grant County sheriff ’s deputy accused of attempted rape and other crimes, ap- pears in Grant County Circuit Court April 20, 2022. Smith’s attorneys made a motion to dismiss the case after the prosecution submitted 300 pages of evi- dence late in the discovery process. Circuit Court hearing on a motion to dismiss crim- inal charges against a former Grant County sher- iff ’s deputy accused of assault, attempted rape and child neglect got underway on April 20, with defense attorneys claiming that prosecutors had been withholding crucial evidence that could clear their client of any wrongdoing. The trial of Tyler Smith, slated to begin in late October, was abruptly put on hold to give defense attorneys time to sift through hundreds of pages of discovery materials fi led just one day earlier by the prosecution. Those materials consisted mostly of internal documents and reports from the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce, which fi red Smith in December 2019, three months after his arrest on the charges in this case. There were also two recorded interviews with Smith’s accuser, including one in which she acknowledged placing a tracking device on Smith’s vehicle and keeping the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce informed of his whereabouts. Andrew Coit, one of Smith’s attorneys, said the prosecution had committed an egregious violation of the Brady Rule, which requires exculpatory evidence — information that could acquit a defendant in a criminal case — to be turned over to the defense by the government. The Brady Rule is named after the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland. In a motion to dismiss with prejudice fi led with Grant County Circuit Court on April 29, Coit argued the prosecution had sup- pressed evidence favorable to the defense for nearly two and half years. Jamie Kimberly, an assistant Oregon attorney general act- ing as a special prosecutor in the case, said prosecutors were unaware of the October dump of discovery materials until the last minute. She said she had only become aware of the recordings after reviewing the defense’s witness list. She said as soon as she found out about the taped interviews, she retrieved them from Grant County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Danny Komning the day before the trial was set to begin. All along, however, the prosecution has argued that Smith’s personnel fi le and items related to it are not relevant to the case since the Oregon State Police, not the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce, investigated the criminal allegations. How we got here Smith was arrested on charges of attempted rape, fourth-de- gree assault and child neglect on Sept. 9, 2019, and then fi red by the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce on Dec. 17, 2019, several months before having an opportunity to enter a not guilty plea on April 30, 2020. Smith maintains that the criminal charges against him were part of a plan by former Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer, Undersheriff Zach Mobley, Mobley’s wife, Abigail, and Komn- ing, her older brother, to have him removed from the Sheriff ’s Offi ce and get him arrested. That plan, Smith asserts, was in retaliation for allegations Smith made to the Oregon Department of Justice on July 31, 2019, that Abigail Mobley had used illegal drugs and had a sex- ual relationship with an inmate incarcerated for drug crimes while she was a jail deputy with the Grant County Sheriff ’s Offi ce. Smith also argues that his accuser was a close friend of the Mobleys and Komning. See Smith, Page A18 Greenhouse posts $122K loss City may turn over facility to private managers By JUSTIN DAVIS Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY — After losing $122,000, the city-owned green- house in John Day could soon be under new management. City Manager Nick Green said he plans to propose that a private Justin Davis/Blue Mountain Eagle corporation run the greenhouse at the Tuesday, May 10, City Coun- The city-owned greenhouse in John Day on April 20, 2022. cil meeting. Green declined to dis- close the name of the company at $155,000 to operate in fiscal year the city had for the greenhouse on this point but said that information 2020-21 and produced $33,000 in hold, contributing to the $122,000 will be made public at the meeting. revenue. Green said the coronavi- deficit for the fiscal year. The greenhouse cost the city rus pandemic put a lot of the plans There are currently no plans to recover the funds lost on the greenhouse to date, but Green said the greenhouse played an integral part in securing some of the grant funding for the city’s planned $17.5 million wastewater treat- ment plant. “It was a proof of concept to show that we could grow hydro- ponic crops in the valley,” Green said. “And (as a) result of hav- ing that and having economic val- ue-added traded-sector industry that can benefit from the reclaimed water, we gained about $6 million in grants for the water treatment plant.” When asked if the greenhouse is a failure, Green said he doesn’t see it that way at all. “Next month we’ll be announc- ing the $3 million award for the reclaimed water system, which is going to give us all the pur- ple pipe and the storage capa- bility to provide water to the greenhouse, golf course, Mal- heur Lumber and our parks,” he said. “I’m not counting that with the $6 million we’ve already got- ten. This is $3 million on top of that.” Green said the firm taking over the greenhouse will benefit from the purple pipe and water treat- ment facilities as well as provide private sector jobs and sell pro- duce locally. See Greenhouse, Page A7 Wynonna to headline Grant County Fair By STEVEN MITCHELL Blue Mountain Eagle JOHN DAY — Award-winning country music singer Wynonna Judd will headline this year’s Grant County Fair Aug. 12. Kicking off the concert will be Eddie Gentry of Montgomery Gentry. Mindy Winegar, the Grant County Fairgrounds manager, said the gates open at 6 p.m. Winegar said advance tickets, which cover the cost of entry to both the fair and concert, are on sale now at grantcountyoregon.net. The early bird price for adults is $45 or $50 the day of the show, while kids 12 and under can get into the fair and concert for $15. Dry camping spots are available for $10 at the Boondock Campground across the street from the outdoor Contributed Photo Wynonna Judd, award-winning female country singer, will headline the Grant County Fair’s Stars, Stripes and Sum- mer Nights concert at the fairgrounds outdoor arena Aug. 12. arena on Northwest Third Street in John Day. “It’s a great deal,” Winegar said, “and good entertainment.” This year’s fair will run Fri- day-Sunday, Aug. 12-14. Winegar said that besides the bouncy house, the mechanical bull and rock-climbing wall, the fair has added new attractions. One that she said she is excited about is the trampoline show on Friday, Satur- day and Sunday. The acrobatic trampoline shows are popular at NBA and NFL events and major festivals, Winegar said the athletes would have 14-foot wall they jump over and will be at the center of the fairgrounds. “It will be so awesome,” she said. Longtime fairgrounds employee Dusty Williams booked the per- formers, known as Flippen Out Pro- ductions, Winegar said. Winegar said the fairgrounds would have security officers on Fri- day and Saturday for crowd control and to prevent underage drinking. Winegar said the security com- pany has previously worked with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. She said some of the deputies have worked with the company. Winegar said the security offi- cers would check bags on Fri- day and Saturday during the peak events, including the concert and Hamsher Fighting Bulls show, to ensure no outside alcohol or weap- ons are brought into the event. Wynonna Judd With her mother, Naomi, Wynonna Judd formed the Judds in the 1980s and became one of the best-selling country artists of all time. Naomi Judd died Saturday, April 30, less than a month after the duo’s last performance and a day before the group’s induc- tion into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Winegar said everyone at the fairgrounds sends their condo- lences to the Judd family.
